Articles
Jo Freeman: There’s Plenty To Do at the RNC – If You Have the Right Credentials
by Jo Freeman
Every national nominating convention has plenty of auxiliary events, some authorized, some not. Getting space can be a challenge; getting the word out even more so. But they do it nonetheless. Press were given a RNC 2024 Master Event Calendar, which was updated a few days later. Events began on Sunday and ended on Thursday. The actual convention sessions were just one item on the list. The calendar said if an event was Open or Closed to press, and also whom to contact to register. I’m going to describe some of the events, including a couple I went to, and a couple I was turned away from.
Since my focus is on women, I obviously wanted to go to those events – if I could.
The National Federation of Republican Women is the largest grassroots Republican women's organization in the country with hundreds of clubs. Founded in 1938, its members made the phone calls and knocked on the doors that elected Republican candidates for decades. It’s Tuesday luncheon featured Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders. The Master Calendar said it was SOLD OUT and they wouldn’t let me in. I was able to get into their lounge at the Fiserv Forum Wednesday evening, where I was repeatedly asked if I was a member, and if not, would I join. “I’m press,” I said. “I can’t join anything partisan.” I then said: “What brings you here?” On hearing that, finding anyone willing to chat with me was like pulling teeth.
Moms for Liberty met in a concert hall that afternoon. I had pre-registered, and I got in. From high in a balcony seat I listened to several people talk about the evils of transgenderism. It’s webpage says WE BELIEVE Power Belongs to the People. Sound Familiar? With a focus is on parental rights, it wants to “STOP WOKE indoctrination.”
Tuesday I went to “The New Mavericks” reception co-hosted by the Black Republican Mayors Association and the Georgia Republican Party. They honored Sen. Tim Scott, four Congressmen and two Georgia delegates – all male. There was only one mayor on stage, from Aurora, IL. The chair of the Georgia Republican Party was the one white man on the stage. At that event, women served; they didn’t speak. The RNC reported that 55 delegates to the 2024 convention are Black, up from 18 in 2016.
I missed the Independent Women’s Forum toast to “Women Who Make Our Country Great” because I went to Convention Fest: The Official Delegate Experience, which was held in the streets outside the Fiserve Forum and Baird Hall as well as some space inside Baird. To get to that one you not only needed a credential of some sort, but a USSS pass (which I have).
Concerned Women for America parked its pink bus across from the Baird Center the week before the RNC. No one was home. When Convention Fest opened on Tuesday afternoon, they set up a pink tent, from which its leaders preached to whomever passed by. It calls itself “the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization” but its focus is evangelical Christian. The slogan on the side of its pink bus captures this emphasis: “She Prays, She Votes.” A prayer precedes each sermon.
Dazzling All Comers
I took a very old, small, blue and yellow table, covered it in fringed shawls and this is where my laptop sits — the one I use for all writing now. Beside it is The Maeve Binchy Writers’ Club. This is a book that makes us determined to complete our project; I have sent word to her that even before the end of January, almost half of it is already full of my notes for the new novel idea. more »
A Dermatologist's Tips for Dry, Flaky Skin On the Scalp; It's the Season for Seborrheic Dermatitis (aka Dandruff)
Treatment for seborrhea of the scalp is aimed at delivering medicated ingredients to the involved scalp skin by using medicated shampoos. These products leave a layer of medicine on the skin after you rinse off the lather. It’s important to know how to properly use medicated shampoos in order to get the best results. There are tricks to getting the best results from your dandruff products. more »
A Year by Any Other Name is Still a Year
“Twenty Ten” trips easily off the tongue, although only marginally quicker to say than “Two Thousand and Ten.” At this point, either term seems acceptable. I suspect, however, that by Two Thousand and Sixty-six, we’ll be in the “Twenty Sixty-six” mode. We’d better just hope that we have no Battle of Hastings of our own to mark it. (At least not until for a very long time). more »
My Mother's Cookbook: Val’s Refrigerator Rolls, Vernie’s Brunch Casserole, Cherry Pie with Crisco Crust and Danish Puff
My oldest brother, Ben had moved back to our hometown by then, and he became the person with whom she could talk things over. They enjoyed planning for and preparing holiday meals and lunched together most days of the work week. Ben kept his weekend activities separate, except when family members were in town. Mom wisely ignored what she must have suspected about his sometimes rowdy behavior with his fourth wife, a local girl younger than his own daughter whom he’d recently married, and their motorcycle-riding friends. more »
